I'd like a little bit of advice from anyone who works with alcoholic patients or has an alcoholic family member. Mom is 64, active alcoholic for 25+ years. She has cirrhosis, ascites, a-fib, severe jaundice. Has not been diagnosed with pancreatitis, but I have my suspicions. Has had a heart attack in the past and never knew it.
She is getting more and more confused. Her meds were a mess. I spent an hour on the phone last week helping her get them all organized (take what pill when, etc.). Today she told me she's been dizzy for a few days and now has chest pain midsternal and straight through to her back. Shortness of breath. Hadn't been taking her meds. Convinced her to call the ambulance (I live in PA, she's in FL). When they got there, she had them check her vitals and they told her she wasn't in a-fib. She didn't even remember calling EMS--she thought either me or my sister had!! The one paramedic told her she was wasting their time and money by calling, and that she should have just gone to a walk-in clinic. I am furious about that!!!
My sister stopped by my mom's and then called me. She talked with my mom, and basically my mom is just sick of living like this and is accelerating her drinking so she can speed up the process and die. She has wanted to die since my dad passed away 25 years ago.
I know my sis and I can't stop her from drinking. Even if she did quit at this stage, she'd be very sick for the rest of her life. We are starting to try to look at this as if it were a terminal disease, like cancer, etc. Are we terrible people for not having her committed, 302'd, whatever? We HAVE been through all the interventions, the rehabs, being the supportive daughters, the watchdogs, etc. My sister cried on the phone today. She NEVER cries. This is taking it's toll, especially on her because she sees mom often and feels so helpless. We love our mom, but it's like we just want this over with already, because we know that the end result will be her death anyway.
She's not who she was. Her mind is going, she's started falling recently. Sorry for the long vent, but I'm going crazy. Of course, next week is finals week too, so all this REALLY helps!